Plot Overview of “The Maze Runner”

Basically, people called Creators put a bunch of boys whose memories were erased into a Maze in Book One of The Maze Runner series. Thomas, the protagonist, was one of the last ones to be put in the Maze, along with a girl named Teresa, the only girl, and that’s when things got strange. Lots of shenanigans went down, but the boys eventually found out how to escape. Once they escaped, they were “rescued” by some sort of rebel group, and then they were brought to a safe haven where they could sleep, and stuff like that.

The Scorch Trials opens with the boys we call them Gladers all in their dormitories having a grand old confusing time, when a new something bad happens. Crazy people outside they’re called Cranks start screaming, so the boys all race into Teresa’s room to see if she’s okay. On the way, they find a bunch of dead bodies hanging from the ceiling of the hallway. Then, when the boys get to Teresa’s room, they find that she’s gone; a boy named Aris is in her room instead.

No one knows what’s going on, and when the boys get back to the hallway, it turns out that the dead bodies are all gone. Later, a random man just appears in the central room of the dormitories. He sits in a chair and reads a book, and he’s also protected by a force field. Eventually, he breaks his silence and tells the boys what’s going on. He’s part of WICKED, and the scoop is that the boys are all about to be put into a trial. At 6 a.m., they’ll need to go through a Flat Trans, whatever that is and then enter the Scorch, where they’ll need to reach the safe haven in exactly two weeks’ time. The next morning, the kids all go through the Flat Trans. It’s a dark portal thingy, and bad stuff happens inside. A few kids get their heads sliced off from metal ball things, but eventually, most of them reach the other side. Meanwhile, Thomas tries telepathically to reach Teresa, but she isn’t responding, which is pretty alarming. When the boys exit the Flat Trans, they walk out into the Scorch, which is pretty much a wasteland with extreme heat. Up ahead is a city filled with Cranks, and ahead of the city is a mountain range. The boys need to make it past the mountain range.

The boys make their trek to the city, but a storm hits and blows a few of them to pieces. When the boys reach the city, they run into a Crank dude named Jorge, who claims he’s the leader of the Cranks. He wants to kill Minho so much, but Thomas talks him out of it. In fact, Thomas talks Jorge into helping the kids, as their safe haven supposedly has the cure for the Flare, the disease that all of the Cranks have. By the way, the kids all have the Flare, too—it just hasn’t affected their brains yet. Jorge starts to lead the boys toward the mountain with another Crank named Brenda, who’s super smart. Unfortunately, Thomas and Brenda get separated from the rest during a Crank attack.